Free interrail tickets for 15.000 young people

for W3c validation

More than 100.000 young people have participated in the pilot project on “Discover EU”. Discover EU is a new initiative of the EU with the goal to distribute free interrail tickets among young people 18 years old. The resulting traveling experience by trian are said to increase the youngesters´ European Identity. 15.000 participants have won and will be able to travel for up to 30 days to up to four EU countries with their Discover EU travel passes. A second application round with up to 10.000 tickets is sheduled to take place in autum 2018.

The 15.000 recipients are going to be contacted soon, so they can make their travel arrangements. It will be possible to travel alone or in groups of up to five people. All voyages have to start between the 9th of July and the 30th of September 2018. In most cases young people will be travelling by train. In exceptional cases alternate mediums of transportation are permitted.

Travellers will have the possibilty to participate in events linked to the European year of cultural heritage.

Interested young people had the opportunity to apply from the 12th to the 26th of June 2018. After outlining travel plans, applicants had to answer five questions on the European year of cultural heritage and the EU-Youth Initiative.

From 2021 Discover EU could become part of Erasmus. The European Commission has proposaed to allocate 700 Mio. EUR in the next MFF. The European Office and its members view these plans with scepticism since the measure would decrease the funding for Erasmus youth exchanges who have proven educational value.